America has elected Donald Trump as its next President, leaving the PM in an awkward position as his front bench have previously trashed Mr Trump.
Sir Keir Starmer will be scrambling to ‘atone’ for his words and that of his MPs, as he must now work directly with Mr Trump during his time in Number 10.
Speaking on The Division Bell podcast, The Express’ Sam Lister said: “The implications for Britain are really interesting. Keir Starmer was straight out the block after it became clear that Donald Trump was the new president to congratulate him.”
“But obviously there is this whole back catalogue of comments made by Keir Starmer, his Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, Health Secretary West Streeting and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, who have said very robust things about Donald Trump in the past. And they said that from the safety of opposition.”
It’s not just the cabinet that have made negative remarks about Trump, but also the PM himself.
In 2021, Sir Keir declared himself to be “anti-Trump but pro-American” and last year criticised the Conservative party by comparing them to Mr Trump. He said: “These aren’t Churchill’s Tories anymore. If anything, they behave more and more like Donald Trump.”
The foreign secretary David Lammy has called Mr Trump a “racist KKK and neo-Nazi sympathiser” and wrote in Time magazine that he would be protesting against the then government’s “capitulation to this tyrant in a toupee”.
He also said: “Trump is not only a woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath, he is also a profound threat to the international order that has been the foundation of Western progress for so long.”
These remarks may put a strain on the US-UK special relationship, and its unclear how Mr Trump will feel about working with Sir Keir and his cabinet.
The PM will likely be on a ‘bended knee’ to get back in Mr Trumps good books.
Sam said: “Now [Labour] are dealing with the reality of having to deal with a president that they as a party collectively on their frontbench, have really gone for relentlessly over the years. David Lammy called him a neo-Nazi sympathiser…This is a man who can hold a grudge.”
“I think in many ways Trump will perhaps like the fact that Labour are in power because he has and where he wants them really. They have to really be kind of on bended knee to him for the rest of the Parliament to atone for all their previous comments.”
For more, you can listen to The Division Bell on Spotify, YouTube and Apple Podcasts
